The Strategist

Toyota's profit falls for the first time in five years



05/10/2017 - 14:36



On Wednesday, Toyota Motor Corp. reported the first in the past five years’ decline in annual net profit - its volume decreased by 20.8%. The concern managed to increase auto sales, however, rising costs and appreciation of the yen did not allow the company to achieve positive net profit dynamics.



Mike Mozart
Mike Mozart
Toyota Motor was unable to increase its net profit for the fiscal year for the first time in five years. According to the Japanese concern’s reports, the company sold 8.97 million cars in the financial year of 2017, which is by 289.5 thousand more than in the previous year. Nevertheless, strengthening of the yen against other currencies resulted in a decrease in sales revenue by 2.8%, to $ 2.46 billion. At that, a significant increase in expenses led to a net profit of $ 16.1 billion, which is 20, 8% lower than last year's figure.

Toyota lost the world leadership in the number of cars sold in 2016, while the Volkswagen Group attained the leadership. As for the fiscal year that ended on March 31, Toyota’s sales in its native market reached 2.274 million cars, which is about 215 thousand cars more than a year ago. The auto concern showed a similar growth in sales in the Asian market: there were 1.588 million cars with an increase of 243 thousand cars sold. In Europe, sales growth of the company was much less significant, and remained at the same level in North America. As for other regions, which account for the main emerging markets, Toyota sales fell seriously - by 246.5 thousand, to 1.347 million cars.

At the same time, Toyota predicts a further decline in net profit. According to the forecast for the fiscal year 2018, the company plans to sell 8.9 million cars with net profit slightly above $ 16 billion. The company's quotes after publication of the reporting fell by 0.9%.

Experts of the Center for Automobile Management (CAM) in the German city of Bergisch Gladbach argue that the production of cars has once again become a profitable business. Moreover, 2016 set a record - the world's 17 largest automotive companies received a total profit of 104 billion euro. This is not only 10 billion more than a year earlier, but also the highest figure in the history of the world auto industry.

According to the CAM’s study quoted by German economic newspaper Handelsblatt, the world leading automakers in terms of absolute operating profit were Toyota (Japan), Daimler (Germany) and General Motors (USA).

The Japanese giant's profit exceeded 17 billion euro in the last year. The German concern earned 12.9 billion, and the American corporation - 11.9 billion.

These three companies account for 40 percent of the profits of the world's automotive industry. Among the five leaders were also American Ford (9.8 billion euros) and German BMW (9.4 billion euros). The top five, consisting of one Japanese, two German and two American companies, provided the industry with 60 percent of the profits.

Japanese company Subaru earn the most of all on each car sold - 13.5 percent. The second place is occupied by BMW, which profitability was 10 percent last year. It is followed by Daimler (8.4 percent), Toyota (7.8 percent) and General Motors (7.5 percent).

CAM also determined the world’s leading car manufacturers in 2016 - Volkswagen (VW) and Toyota. Both companies sold more than 10 million cars, but the German automaker, despite the diesel scandal, for the first time managed to outrun its long-standing Japanese competitor by several tens of thousands of units.

However, VW took only 14th place in terms of profit margins, and its profitability was only 3.3 percent. So the German concern, although managed to bypass the Japanese giant by the gross index, still showed worse financial performance. 

source: ft.com, handelsblatt.com